Questions for Tucker Carlson and Others Leaving MAGA
Regret is a beginning. Reflection is where transformation starts.
Many of us find ourselves, thankfully, in the position of responding to our neighbors who regret supporting Donald Trump. The war in Iran was a major catalyst to this exodus from MAGA, especially among major conservative voices such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Tucker Carlson.
I find myself oscillating between wanting to stay angry, wanting to say “I told you so”, and taking the higher road of compassion and forgiveness. I want to believe that I am capable of laying down my sword and working for peace.
However, in order for healing to begin, we need to be able to have an honest conversation and reflection. I am more interested in “How did we get here and how do we move forward as a collective people?” then I am in winning the game. The policies of this regime have harmed actual human beings, the environment, and our global standing as a nation. This regime has torn apart so many of our democratic institutions, made justice feel like a joke, and used Jesus Christ in grotesque ways. We need awakening, honesty, and willingness to examine why voting for this administration ever felt acceptable in the first place.
I understand that questioning your religious and political affiliations and beliefs is extremely difficult. Most of us in the deconstruction community have been going through the process for many years. I am not expecting an overnight, radical move from oppression to empathy, but perhaps these questions will spark important dialogue and reflection.
Questions for Honest Reflection
Power & Hierarchy
Who did you believe deserved power more than others, and why?
When you say “take the country back,” who was it being taken back from?
What groups did you see as threats, and what made them threatening?
Do you believe some people are more deserving of dignity, rights, or opportunity than others?
Race
How did race shape your political fears, even if you didn’t name it that way?
What did “law and order,” “inner cities,” “DEI,” or “woke” mean to you at the time?
Looking back, were there moments you normalized racism because it benefited your side?
What does equality feel like when you’re used to advantage?
Gender & Sexuality
Why do you think queer and trans people became such a political obsession for the right?
What did traditional gender roles offer you emotionally or socially?
Were women’s autonomy or LGBTQ+ rights ever framed to you as a loss for you personally? Why?
What fears were attached to people living differently than you?
Wealth & Capitalism
Why do you think wealth is often treated as proof of virtue?
Did you equate success with moral worth?
How did you view poor people then, and how do you view them now?
At what point did you realize an economy can reward exploitation?
Empathy & Self-Interest
Did something only become real when it affected you personally?
Why do you think suffering felt abstract until it touched your life?
Who were you able to ignore before that you can’t ignore now?
What has expanded your empathy?
Christianity & Power
Were you taught to respect authority more than to question injustice?
Did religion frame obedience as holier than resistance?
Were marginalized groups portrayed as threats to “traditional values”?
Did protecting a religious identity matter more than protecting vulnerable people?
Were you taught to care more about sexual morality than economic exploitation or systemic harm?
How were race, gender roles, and nationalism woven into your understanding of faith?
Did you excuse cruelty because the leader promised to defend your beliefs?
Were certain people expected to submit while others were expected to rule?
Did your theology make empathy selective?
What teachings of Jesus were emphasized—and which were ignored?
Accountability
What beliefs did you defend because they benefited you?
What truths did you avoid because they were inconvenient?
How do you take responsibility without collapsing into shame?
What do you owe the people harmed by policies you supported?
Reconstruction
What values are replacing the ones you left behind?
What does justice mean to you now?
How do you know you’ve changed beyond one issue?
What would your politics look like if human dignity—not dominance—was the center?
May we all lay down our various swords in order to get to the root of dangerous ideologies that have caused so much damaging polarity. Divided we fall, and we are falling.
The good news? There is still time to change the road we are on.
Organizations I recommend for anyone leaving MAGA:
www.recoveringfromreligion.org
www.leavingmaga.org